Hiking Trail Opens at Holuhraun Lava Field

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Hiking Trail Opens at Holuhraun Lava Field

Employees of Vatnajökull National Park have finished marking a hiking trail leading from the road across Dyngjusandur plains and up the northern edge of Holuhraun lava field in the northeastern highlands. The trail opened on Thursday.

The trail leads across rough lava and hikers must take great care. Rangers stress that it’s not a walking path. “It’s a trail and it will be given the suitable difficulty level. It will be considered to be dangerous for inexperienced hikers—at least demanding,” ranger Hjörleifur Finnsson told RÚV.

Hjörleifur described the feeling of walking across the lava, which was red hot and glowing only six months ago, to be incredible. The Holuhraun eruption, which began in late August 2014, came to an end last February. People can still feel the heat rising from the lava.

The trail is rather short but gives people a good sense of how diverse the lava formations are. There’s also a good view of the expanse of the lava field and the crater itself can be seen at a distance. It will not be safe to hike all the way to the crater for some time.